May 3, 2022 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Word of an extraordinarily inexpensive material, lightweight enough to protect satellites against debris in the cold of outer space, cohesive enough to strengthen the walls of pressurized vessels experiencing average conditions on Earth and yet heat-res…
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Look who’s turning 25
September 2, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is celebrating 25 years of research conducted at its Z Pulsed Power Facility — a gymnasium-sized accelerator commonly referred to as Z or the Z machine. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only a limited number of former leaders of the pulsed power program at Sandia...
Record neutron numbers at Sandia Labs’ Z machine fusion experiments
October 27, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A relatively new method to control nuclear fusion that combines a massive jolt of electricity with strong magnetic fields and a powerful laser beam has achieved its own record output of neutrons — a key standard by which fusion efforts are judged — at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z...
Sandia initiatives to protect US energy grid and nuclear weapons systems
March 23, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — To deter attempts to disable U.S. electrical utilities and to defend U.S. nuclear weapon systems from evolving technological threats, Sandia National Laboratories has begun two multiyear initiatives to strengthen U.S. responses. One is focused on defending large U.S. electrical utility systems from potential attacks by hostile nations,...
Categories: Climate Change, Cybersecurity, Energy / Environment / Water, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
Topics: electromagnetic, electrons, geomagnetic, Hermes, hurricanes, lightning, neutrons, nuclear weapons, petawatt, Saturn, solar storms, transformers, utilities, X-rays, Z
Sandia Fellow wins nuclear fusion award
January 16, 2020 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories Fellow Keith Matzen has been awarded the 2019 Distinguished Career Award by Fusion Power Associates, a national nonprofit research and educational foundation, for his many contributions to the laboratory development of nuclear fusion. The foundation annually brings together senior U.S. and international fusion experts...
Tritium introduced in fusion experiments at Sandia
November 9, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories Z Machine have opened a new chapter in their 20-year journey toward higher fusion outputs by introducing tritium, the most neutron-laden isotope of hydrogen, to their targets’ fuel. When Z fires, its huge electromagnetic field crushes pre-warmed fuel, forcing it to fuse....
Sandia researcher wins high-voltage award
August 2, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Awards arrive at different levels of intensity, but no one can deny that Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mark Savage has won the highest voltage prize of all — the IEEE William G. Dunbar Award — for work achieved at extremely high voltage. Asked why he was selected...
Sandia physicist Jim Bailey wins major physics award for 10-year study of the sun
July 28, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By testing bits of iron at the temperature of the sun, Sandia National Laboratories physicist Jim Bailey and his team have provided key data to improve the Standard Solar Model, widely used by astrophysicists to help model the behavior of stars. For this work, Bailey will receive...
Topics: astrophyisical, high energy density, iron, opacity, plasma, pulsed power, solar, stellar, sun, Z, z machine
World’s fastest multiframe digital X-ray camera created at Sandia
June 2, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An adversary who steps inside a boxer’s sense of rhythm may land a punch the boxer never saw coming. A similar problem faces physicists struggling to achieve laboratory-scale nuclear fusion: A rogue event occurring between successively monitored images may knock an otherwise promising experiment off-kilter without anyone...
Thor’s hammer to crush materials at 1 million atmospheres
January 5, 2016 • Sophisticated features may influence eventual Z-machine rebuildALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new Sandia National Laboratories accelerator called Thor is expected to be 40 times more efficient than Sandia’s Z machine, the world’s largest and most powerful pulsed-power accelerat…
Sandia researcher elected physics fellow after ‘remarkable impact’ in pulsed power
November 18, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Daniel Sinars has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) through its Division of Plasma Physics. The distinction is awarded to no more than one half of one percent of the society’s membership. Sinars’ citation reads, “For scientific contributions and...
Sandia’s Z machine receives funding aimed at fusion energy
June 29, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A two-year, $3.8 million award has been received by Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to hasten the day of low-cost, high-yield fusion reactions for energy purposes. High-yield means much more energy emerging from a fusion reaction than is put...
Pulsed-power physicist receives IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science award
May 5, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — William Stygar, manager of Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Accelerator Physics department, has been selected to receive the Erwin Marx Award by the Pulsed Power Science and Technology Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. The award’s previous recipients “are a who’s who of the leaders...
Categories: Awards, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
Sandia magnetized fusion technique produces significant results
September 22, 2014 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have produced a significant output of fusion neutrons, using a method fully functioning for only little more than a year. The experimental work is described in a paper to be published in the Sept. 24 Physical Review Letters online. A...
Topics: deuterium, fusion, laser, magLIF, magnetic fields, nuclear fusion, Physical Review Letters, tritium, Z, z machine
American Physical Society names four Sandia fellows
May 7, 2014 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Four Sandia researchers have been named Fellows of the American Physical Society, an honor that indicates recognition by scientific peers of exceptional contributions to physics. No more than one half of 1 percent of APS membership can be elected in a given year. Those honored are: Charles...
Categories: Awards, Chemistry, Computing, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering
Japanese city councilor journeys to end furor over Sandia Z tests
May 23, 2013 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Yasuyuki Kaneko left his wife and two small children at the end of April to fly from the northern Japanese city of Sapporo to Albuquerque. He stayed overnight at a small hotel a few blocks from the airport. The next morning, Kaneko — a Sapporo city councilor —...
Categories: Science / Technology / Engineering